Creation

The Book of Genesis starts when God creates the heavens, earth, and all life. He creates humans in His own Image, then rests. Everything He made is good.

Garden of Eden

God puts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, depicting a perfect environment and relationship with God, and blesses them to rule the earth and create like He does.

The Rebellion

God gives humans the ability to choose. A serpent tempts them to disobey God and sin contaminates humanity and creation. God prophesies redemption for humans.

The Flood

Humans populate and become exceptionally corrupt. Heartbroken, God floods the whole earth. Noah builds an ark and is spared. God reinstates His covenant with Noah.

Scattering of Nations

People repopulate, create Babylon, and desire a great tower to make themselves famous. God scatters and confuses them with different languages before it is built.
 

Abraham's Covenant

God tells Abraham to go to Canaan and promises him numerous descendants. Abraham overcomes his doubts, believes God, and miraculously has a son with Sarah.

Sodom & Gomorrah

A foreshadowing of future mercy and judgment, God saves Abraham's nephew Lot from the destruction of wicked Sodom and Gomorrah after Abraham intercedes.

Isaac and The Blessing

Still sojourning in Canaan, Abraham's blessing continues through Isaac and God gives him Rebekah as his wife. Isaac has twin sons - Jacob and Esau.

Family Struggles

Jacob steals Esau's birthright and runs for his life. Jacob's uncle Laban cheats him and his jealous wives compete, but all find forgiveness in the end.

Joseph and Egypt

Joseph is hated by his brothers, who sell him into slavery in Egypt, but God uses the situation to save them from famine. God turning evil on its head is the Book of Genesis' overall theme.

OT/NT: Old Testament (1)
 
SECTION: The Law (2)
 
TRADITIONAL AUTHOR: Moses (3)
 
MOST MENTIONED NAMES: Abraham (4), Jacob (5), Joseph (6), Laban (7), Sarah (8), Isaac (9), Esau (10), Abimelek (11) and Benjamin (12).
 
SUMMARY: Genesis (13) is the first book of the Holy Bible (14) and the first book of the Old Testament. The word Genesis can be translated "In the beginning," telegraphing what this book offers. As the unparalleled benchmark of Christian perspectives on how it all began, Genesis rolls out the origin of LIFE itself. The all-powerful YHWH (15) creates everything out of nothing and establishes His Word (16) as the unmatched authority of all things seen and unseen, of all utterances spoken and unspoken.

The Book of Genesis can be divided into two sections: Primitive History and Patriarchal History.

 
Primitive history records:
Creation (17) (Genesis 1:1-2:25);
The Fall of Man (18) (Genesis 3:1-5:32);
The Flood (19) (Genesis 6:1-9:29);
The Dispersion (Genesis 10:1-11:32).
 
Patriarchal history records the lives of four great men:
Abraham (Genesis 12:1-25:8);
Isaac (Genesis 21:1-35:29);
Jacob (Genesis 25:21-50:14);
Joseph (Genesis 30:22-50:26).
 
God created a Universe that was good and free from sin (20). God created humanity to have a personal relationship with Him. Adam and Eve (21) sinned and thereby brought evil and death into the world. Evil increased steadily in the world until there was only one family in which God found anything good. God sent the Flood to wipe out evil, but delivered Noah (22) and his family along with the animals in the Ark (23). After the Flood, humanity began again to multiply and spread throughout the world.
 
God chose Abraham, through whom He would create a chosen people and eventually the promised Messiah (24). The chosen line was passed on to Abraham’s son Isaac, and then to Isaac’s son, Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and his twelve sons became the ancestors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (25). In His sovereignty, God had Jacob’s son, Joseph, sent to Egypt (26) by the despicable actions of Joseph’s brothers. This act, intended for evil by the brothers, was intended for good by God and eventually resulted in Jacob and his family being saved from a devastating famine by Joseph, who had risen to great power in Egypt.
 
IMPLANTING GENESIS INTO MY EVERYDAY LIFE:
God created the universe, the earth, and every living being. We can trust Him to handle the concerns in our lives. God can take a hopeless situation, e.g. Abraham and Sarah being childless, and do amazing things if we will simply trust and obey (27). Terrible and unjust things may happen in our lives, as with Joseph, but God will always bring about a greater good if we have faith in Him and His sovereign plan. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). (a)
 
COMING UP:  Next up is the Book of Exodus (28)!

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The narrative (a) offered herein has been published with permission (b) and no monetary gain is being sought. Footnotes within the narrative have been inserted by The Marion County Manna Project and re-direct to our webpages (unless otherwise noted) for additional spiritual insight and reflection.

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If you're seeking additional info about Christianity on a more personal level, consider visiting a Christian Church here in Marion County (29). Introduce yourself to members and ask to speak with someone to learn more about Jesus. Surrendering your life to Christ (30) (e) is the most rewarding, everlasting decision you'll ever make, and it's comforting to have someone guide you as you begin your new life as a child of the Most High! May God shower you with great favor in this endeavor!

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Footnotes, Page Credits and External Resources appear below. Consider printing and sharing the offered PDF narrative and other listed resources with family, friends and strangers alike for use in Bible Studies (31), Home/Church Faith Sharing Groups (32), Discipleship Encounters (33) and/or Personal Faith Enrichment!

 
Modifications are welcome at goodnews@marionmannaproject.com.
 

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FOOTNOTES:
  (1) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/old-testament
  (2) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/the-law
  (3) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/Moses
  (4) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/Abraham
  (5) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/jacob-patriarch
  (6) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/joseph-genesis
  (7) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/laban
  (8) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/sarah
  (9) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/isaac
(10) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/esau
(11) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/abimelek-genesis
(12) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/benjamin
(13) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/genesis
(14) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/the-good-news
(15) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/god-has-a-name
(16) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/the-word-of-the-lord
(17) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/creation-account
(18) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/original-sin
(19) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/noahs-ark
(20) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/sin
(21) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/adam-eve
(22) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/noah
(23) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/noahs-ark
(24) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/jesus-the-messiah
(25) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/twelve-tribes-of-israel
(26) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/egypt
(27) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/obedience
(28) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/exodus
(29) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/listing-by-city
(30) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/the-gracious-visitor
(31) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/bible-studies
(32) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/christian-education
(33) https://www.marionmannaproject.com/discipleship
 
PAGE CREDITS:
(a) Summary of the Book of Genesis, Got Questions Ministries, accessed September 29, 2020, https://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Genesis.html
(b) Copyright Policy, Got Questions Ministries, accessed January 11, 2020,
https://www.gotquestions.org/about.html
(c) Videos, Milestones, Blogs & Poster, BibleProject, accessed September 29, 2020, https://www.bibleproject.com/terms/#use
(d) Bible Gateway, New International Version (NIV) Bible, accessed September 18, 2020, https://www.biblegateway.com/
 
EXTERNAL RESOURCES:
(e)  How Do I Convert to Christianity?, Got Questions Ministries, accessed January 12, 2020, https://www.gotquestions.org/convert-to-Christianity.html